What do you listen to while writing? · 1:10am Nov 11th, 2016
[Start scene: In Chinchillax's brain]
Me: Hmm... it's quiet in here.
Also me: No stop.
Me: I better turn on some music.
Also me: You better not.
Me: ♫We're no strangers to loooove♫
Also me: I SWEAR TO GOOGLE
Me: ♫You know the rules♫
Also me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH
[End Scene]
And that's what it's like to be in my brain in a quiet room.
The only remedy I have found to get rid of this phenomenon is to replace my inner music with external music. Any music—heck, white noise— will alleviate inner ear worms.
But more than this just being a blog post where I dump a bunch of music I like, I want to get your music too. What do you listen to while writing? What helps you concentrate on doing work when your brain would rather wander elsewhere? I'm looking forward to your comments. 
I'll start with white noise because that's a bizarre category in and of itself. When I picture "white noise," I imagine the sound an old tv makes when it's looking for a channel that isn't there. But the modern definition of "white noise" has expanded to include an absurdly high number of repetitive noises.
Rainymood.com is a single use website devoted to rain noises. It's surprisingly calming. This category is very popular, Youtube is full of rain videos that reach millions of views.Sounds of water in general make for very good white noise.
There's even Star Trek ship ambient noise. And of course, fire.
And among the many different "colors" of generic white noise, my personal favorite is brown noise. And my favorite app for exploring different kinds of white noise is this one.
I find that white noise is sometimes helpful for concentrating on writing/working, but it's best use for me has been sleeping. But your mileage may vary.
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Okay now let me switch gears and talk about music. I love music that can take me somewhere far away, and I also love music that'll keep me focused on a single task. It's rare that music will do both, but when it does it becomes a song I will listen to for days on end.
I'll start with Adam Young (aka Owl City). I am convinced that everything this guy touches turns into gold. Every time I turn around I find yet another secret project this guy has worked on that I end up loving.
His project Port Blue, straddles the line between white noise and music in a way I find absurdly relaxing. And then he's got another project called Color Therapy that's essentially the same thing.
And then there's the Adam Young scores project. It's like Nanowrimo, but he's doing it for music, and he's doing it for a whole year. And best of all, the songs are free! (You will have to sacrifice an email address, but that can be dealt with easily).
Notable examples: Send Only Memories was written exclusively using Interstellar Space and Europa on repeat.
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Another artist that I love is Marcus Warner (aka Evening Star). Evening Star produced a ton of fantastic instrumental brony music a few years back. And since then he's been making music to sell, and doing a very good job. I can't wait to see "Marcus Warner" in the music score credits of some blockbuster movie some day.
Noteable examples: A Place for Pinkie was written with Falcon's and Choices.
Reincarnation or Immortality was written using entirely using Horizons. Yes, the entire novel. (iTunes says I've listened to it 1,070 times)
The unreleased Hospice was written listening to If Elephants Could Fly
And an adventure story (I abandoned) was written using the swashbuckling Captain's Dance.
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Another artist that is relaxing as all get out is Parallel View. It's just chill music.
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From here all I can think of is a vast amount of video game music. Final Fantasy VIII and Phoenix Wright are awesome! And I could probably write a whole blog about all the Undertale remixes that I love.
Sadly, what doesn't make the list for me is Brony remix music. The problem with them is that they have lyrics, and when the lyrics aren't there I find myself singing along, inserting the lyrics where they should be. So it doesn't work that well for writing. But they are great to listen to in general.
Alright, that's enough from me. What do you all listen to while writing?
I'm weird, I don't really get distracted by music when I'm writing, so I can listen to whatever. (There's far more things to be distracted by than music! :V)
I absolutely:
Cannot listen to music while writing. I start noticing the chord progressions and begin humming harmonies or bass lines, and the next thing I know, I've stopped writing and am focusing entirely on the music. I can write in rooms where people are talking, but as soon as music starts, it takes over my whole brain space.
Mike
I can't do intellectual work in general without some kind of music going on the background – or, at the very least, I become a lot less productive. Having something going on around my ears allows me to refocus quickly after getting distracted, and while sometimes my playlist may end while I'm in the zone and I just keep going on, soon enough some stray thought runs around my mind, and I know myself enough to know that is the time to select something else.
I'm perfectly okay with Vocals, and I will often find myself singing along to lyrics I know by heart while reading or writing. I don't re-listen to music all that much however, and only 9 songs (out of 20k) are listened as having over 100 plays on my music library. This means that, more often than not, I will be writing to something I'm not all that familiar with.
I'm pretty much a metalhead, and I always try to pair the tone of the music to whatever I'm doing right now. Coding is for melodeath and Power metal, as well as musicals (nothing like working from home so I can belt out Stars while doing unit tests). I go to more folkish black or classical when explicitly reviewing or editing things (Saor is my current drug right now), since . And when writing fiction I will either be really inspired by a song or album, and decide to write something related to that, or have an idea, and try to find a genre that fits. The same also applies to reading, so I will often hold on reading something until I find something that actually pairs well with what it promises.
I didn't realize how different people were in regards to how they concentrate. Thanks for your perspectives.
4296562
So music doesn't help or hurt your concentration. Interesting.
I KNOW! Depending on the project, I have to clean/declutter everything in my immediate surroundings, turn off every program except the writing one, and then put everything on Airplane mode.
Blogging is another matter in exercising self-control. If I want to include a link anywhere, I have to break out of airplane mode in order to do so. And it's so hard to link to anything without triple checking it, and then clicking on every link beyond what you're linking to just in case.
4296780
So silence is the best way for you to write? Fascinating!
4296892
You can sing and write at the same time? I always thought there was some kind of problem with that neurologically, music with words uses the same space as writing the words, or something like that. Well I'm pretty sure that paradigm of mine is wrong.
See, I would go bonkers with this. Familiarity is the only thing keeping me tethered to what I'm working on.
(AH! You're the kind of person that can actually use services like Spotify and Pandora! Every time I try to use them, I can't stand being confronted with unfamiliar music.)
See, I try to do this, but it feels like tones shift too frequently to find something that will work with what's promised. Oddly enough, white noise is my best helper when it comes to reading.
Ooh! Thanks for the link!
4297807
It is weird. If I try to do that consciously, I fail. I certainly can't talk and write at the same time, at least not properly However, if I'm concentrated on my work, and start hearing a music that I recognize, then I can start singing. I suspect that it has more to do with memory than language.
It depends on what sort of level of writing that I'm doing. If I'm deep into a story and know the characters well, I'm far enough into the fictional world in my head to be hearing the thoughts, words, and sounds of the story. At that point I feel like music would be a distraction.
But before that point, I find some nice instrumental music of the right mood is good. Before writing, I also sometimes like to listen to things that get me in the right mood.
I find I actually need music more when doing lower-level stuff where my brain gets distracted such as editing.